It was clear driving on "alternate routes'' for most of the day yesterday after the ramps to the northbound, New York-bound lanes of the Pulaski Skyway for blocked off for longterm construction.

"Everything is going on as planned at this point," state Department of Transportation spokesman Stephen Schapiro told The Jersey Journal yesterday morning.

While a Jersey Journal reporter found Route 139 backed up in the early afternoon and 511nj.org reported a couple of backups on Routes 1&9 Truck and Route 440 in Jersey City later in the day, for the most part traffic seemed about normal for a Saturday, even an especially nice one weatherwise.

Jersey City officials are bracing for the worst come Monday, though, with Public Safety
Director James Shea saying the city is going to be “ground zero” for
traffic problems related to the shutdown.

With Passover and Holy Week and some schools, including the Jersey City public schools, closed this week, the real test may not come until a week from tomorrow.

The New York-bound lanes of the Skyway are being closed for two years so crews can replace the bridge deck on the aging span. The lane closures started yesterday, but the real test is Monday, the first weekday of the shutdown.

Until yesterday, some 40,000 motorists used the New York-bound lanes of the Skyway each day.

The state Department of Transportation is urging commuters to take public transportation instead, but they concede they can’t predict how many motorists are going to leave their cars at home and take a train or bus instead.

The bridge deck replacement is part of a $1 billion rehabilitation of the bridge, which is being paid for by the Port Authority. The massive construction project will make the Pulaski Skyway safe to drive on for at least another 75 years, the DOT says.

If you’re seeing something unusual – traffic backed up on the
alternate routes, PATH trains packed more than usual with people who
left their cars at home – let us now by tweeting at us @jerseyjournal
and adding the Skyway shutdown hashtag, #pulaskishutdown.

Please don't tweet and drive -- wait until you're stopped to post!

Must-see links:

Alternate Routes
The DOT has suggested two main alternate routes for drivers to get to
the Holland Tunnel. The Jersey Journal took those two detours, and three
more, additionally creative routes drivers could take.

When completed in 1932 at a cost of $20 million, the General Casimir
Pulaski Skyway was the most expensive bridge of its day and it was
declared the “Most Beautiful Steel Structure” among long-span bridges by
the American Institute of Steel Construction.